Keira Knightley's $2m Anna Karenina Chanel Jewels

COSTUME designer Jacqueline Durran has revealed that, thanks to Keira Knightley, she was able to use $2m (£1.25m) worth of Chanel diamonds when creating the costumes for Joe Wright's film adaptation of Leo Tolstoy's Anna Karenina.

As the face of Chanel's Coco Mademoiselle perfume, Knightley - who stars as the title character - had a vast collection of jewels at her disposal: "Never in my experience on film sets have I seen anyone with such a range of diamonds and pearls," Durran told WWD. "But I have to say it was very useful for Keira to have at her fingertips all this fine jewellery, as Anna would. It was the aura of Anna Karenina that we were creating."

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Durran, who previously worked with Wright and Knightley on Atonement, creating the iconic green dress Knightley's character Celia wears, was encouraged by Wright to study the Fifties rather than the late Eighteenth Century - when the story is set - for inspiration for the film's costumes. The designer looked to the work of Lanvin, Christian Dior and Balenciaga to inject a contemporary aesthetic to the period drama.

It's a revelation that shows how integral the costume design was to the picture: "When we were discussing what colour kimono Keira should wear, we had five different heads of various departments," said Durran. "It is a good thing to say that, because it shows how important each aesthetic is to his films."